Review: Blow-Up and Other Stories

Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aside from Axolotl, I can't say any of these stories really spoke to me. I feel like I just wasn't in the right mindset, finding myself wanting the stories to finish and finding the intricate prose a bit tedious. I may have to give it another go, but only after a break.



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Review: Axolotl

Axolotl by Julio Cortázar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such an interesting example of a story that seemed and felt real and straightforward until, without realizing it, it wasn't anymore. A fun, short story. I look forward to reading more by him.



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Review: Ficciones

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Themes abound in these different stories, such as mazes/labyrinths, the circularity of time, and dreams.

In fact, it may have been better not to read them all at once, so I could start each story fresh and get a chance to enter once more into Borges' world. As it is, it felt quite repetitive at times and some of the stories have melded together in my memory.



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Review: Il manoscritto di Brodie

Il manoscritto di Brodie by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a re-read and I changed the rating from 4 to 5. 

What a pleasure it is to read Borges. Every story was a delight, so it seems useless to pick favorites. Still, the ones that seem to stick with me most after a few days are:

Juan Muraña

La signora anziana

Guayaquil

Il Vangelo secondo Marco

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Review: The Library at Night

The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you are a lover of books (and libraries), as I assume many people on this website are, then you will likely love this book.

If you aren't, this will be a dull book where nothing happens.

I finished this book surprisingly quickly. It is chock-full of interesting tidbits and pieces of information about libraries, books, readers, authors, and ancillary topics.

I was surprised to read how certain libraries, like the Library of Congress, have destroyed more books than were destroyed in the burning of the library of Alexandria. Putting them (faultily, it turns out) onto microfiche usually meant destroying the originals. His example of the scanning of the Domesday book and all the time and effort it took (and how it was subsequently unreadable) is very interesting.

Also interesting was how librarians saved books that were headed for the landfill by clandestinely stamping false withdrawal dates on them, thereby making them seem more popular than they were (p. 72)



Some highlighted quotes:
"According to (Richard) Semon, memory is the quality that distinguishes living from dead matter." (p. 203)

"Tradition tells us that words, not light, came first out of the primordial darkness." (p. 269)

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Review: The Wind That Lays Waste

The Wind That Lays Waste by Selva Almada
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't really say I enjoyed this all that much.

I loved the setting, the general ambience and the feel of the place. The characters seemed interesting, with strong backstories leading up to this point in their lives. The point where they meet and interact also seems promising. The issue, however, is that (despite the big storm, which seemed like extremely heavy-handed symbolism of 'change to come') none of this really seemed to lead anywhere.

I was left with more questions than answers. How will things proceed? Why did the preacher leave his wife in the way he did? and some others.

Ultimately, I wish it were a longer novel that it had let us get to know these characters more and for a longer time.



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Review: All My Goodbyes

All My Goodbyes by Mariana Dimópulos
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I hate to say this but this reminds me why I should stay away from contemporary best sellers and stick to classics (which I seldom actually do, but still).

As others commenters have mentioned, the style is extremely jumpy, and I imagine this is supposed to be a reflection of the narrator, who is very flighty and keeps changing her job, her country and her surroundings. However, her descriptions of every place and situation sound so similar, and she keeps jumping around so much through space and time, that I can never quite tell what she's referring to.

I recognize that this might be my issue. Maybe I'm just not built for this type of novel, or maybe I just don't get some deeper meaning. Maybe if I had a different mindset I would have found it beautiful.

Paradoxically I think if I had read it in the original Spanish I would have gotten more out of it, since I would have had to read it much more slowly and with a much more discerning eye.

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